April 8th, 2020 Springfield-Toledo Supertwister
The 2020 Springfield-Toledo "Supertwister" was a historic, long-track tornado that touched down in the southern metropolitan neighborhoods of Springfield, plowing across central Illinois, central Indiana, and northwest Ohio before dissipating over Lake Erie near Toledo. The deadly EF5 tornado easily broke the record for the longest track ever, and was the costliest tornado in history. Meteorological Synopsis During the late morning hours of April 7th, 2020, a strong longwave trough hovered over the north Midwestern states, forcing an impressively deep surface low into Missouri. This deep low combined with a notably strong jet stream set up significant instability in the atmosphere, creating a deadly mix of conditions that would produce multiple violent tornadoes across the Midwest for the next two days. On April 1st, the Storm Prediction Center had issued a 15% severe weather risk area stretching from western Illinois to eastern Indiana on days 6 and 7 of the SPC Convective Weather Outlook. On the approach of April 3rd, the Storm Prediction Center issued a 30% severe weather risk area stretching from central Illinois to a small portion of western Indiana, while expanding the 15% severe weather risk area from Missouri to Ohio. As of April 6th, outlook day 2 showed a high risk over eastern Missouri and outlook day 3 showed a moderate risk stretching from far eastern Illinois to Ohio. On the approach of April 7th, outlook days 1 and 2 showed back-to-back high risks stretching from central Illinois to eastern Ohio with CAPE almost reaching 7000J/kg- a worst case scenario. At about 11:00AM, supercells began flaring up east of Columbia up and down the state of Missouri, blasting east-northeast at 70MPH and producing 3 tornadoes. At around noon, the supercells crossed the Missouri/Illinois border, dropping 5 more tornadoes before reaching central Illinois, where activity picked up immensely. Tornado Life Summary The supercell that spawned the Springfield-Toledo Supertwister received its first severe thunderstorm warning to the west of Bowling Green, Missouri at 11:53AM when ping pong ball size hail was reported by a certified meteorologist. By the time the storm reached Franklin, Illinois, at 12:51PM, it had produced 70MPH wind gusts and dropped hail the size of tennis balls. While passing over Franklin, a wall cloud was confirmed by a man's photo he had taken from inside a local McDonald's as it was directly overhead. Finally, at 12:56PM, the NWS issued a tornado warning when strong rotation was detected east of Loami, approaching Springfield. At 1:01PM, with sirens blaring, a tornado was confirmed moving through a neighborhood in Southern View, downing trees and mildly damaging roofs. The tornado then crossed the South Dirksen Parkway, causing the roof of an Applebee's restaurant to collapse on 12 people taking shelter and causing EF1 damage to several businesses in the area. The tornado raced in no time toward an east Springfield neighborhood, crossing Lake Springfield and doing more EF1 damage. After leaving the Springfield metropolitan area, the tornado did mild damage to a barnhouse before dissipating over a forest. Suddenly, at 1:11PM, a large wedge tornado was spotted by storm chasers as it emerged from the forest- the same tornado. The tornado swiftly crossed the field into a treeline, where it caught the residents around Mechanicsburg off-guard and only left the inner walls of weak houses standing and demolished roofs. The tornado killed 5 at this point and injured another 7. The tornado, now with radar detected winds at 140MPH, tracked towards Decatur for a long 15 minutes before crossing I-72. At this point 4 teenagers attempting to outrun the tornado were caught in the outer circulation, where they veered to the right and were rolled several hundred yards across a field, killing all 4 passengers. The tornado then reached the northwest neighborhoods of Decatur, demolishing 1-story homes and severely debarking trees before moving into more developed neighborhoods and only leaving the inner walls of 2-story houses standing- entire second-stories were swept away. The near mile wide wedge then moved into the north-central part of town, severely damaging and demolishing businesses along West Perishing Road. It then barreled over an empty shopping mall where one person was gripping for life onto a pillar just outside of the structure, the incredibly lucky man only sustained minor injuries. After the tornado left Decatur at 1:31PM, the supercell began to shift slightly northeast, putting the town of Champaign 30 miles away in its path. Heavy vehicles and debris from town were discovered a mile away, with the death toll reaching 27 and 201 injuries. As the tornado roared across empty countryside toward Champaign, the supercell began developing a moist inflow jet that blanketed the tornado behind a wall of rain. Storm chaser Martin Van Lois, who found his way around the rain, reported that the tornado was taking on a multi-vortex stage. From there, the rainwrapped tornado slowly approached I-72 and caused a major semi truck pileup, blocking the highway completely. The tornado, still multi-vortex stage, entered the small city of Monticello and demolished the north side of town, leaving trees bare and reducing well-constructed houses to rubble on top of a slab. The only room left standing of the well constructed Piatt County Nursing Home was the concrete, steel-reinforced storm shelter located within the building. The only structures that didn't sustain severe tornadic damage to some degree were in the extreme southern part of town, as they were just out of reach from the outer circulation. At 1:54PM, a tornado emergency was issued for Champaign and at 2:04PM the tornado, now showing a medium-size sub-vortex giving it a "twin" appearance, raced though Seymour and Bondville toward far northwestern Champaign. First, the tornado plowed over farmland in the extreme northwest corner of Champaign, ruining cover crops and severely damaging a row of grain silos beyond recognition. The tornado then moved further northeast, reducing the New Horizon United Methodist Church to rubble and destroying two automobile dealerships, tossing cars more than one mile away. The neighborhoods around Dodge and Heritage Parks sustained damage from 80MPH RFD. The High School of St. Thomas More suffered major damages, where the southern part of the school collapsed due to large glass panels that allowed the windspeeds to accelerate. There, 203mph winds were recorded due to this acceleration. A bathroom that belonged to a small Dairy Queen where 7 people hid was barely left standing. The US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory along with a business strip took a direct hit from the tornado's sub-vortex, leaving the north end of the well-constructed Research Laboratory swept away and the rest of the Laboratory severely damaged. The business strip consisting of more well-constructed buildings was reduced to rubble. Remarkably, only 1 person was injured after being crushed by debris while taking shelter inside a grocery store. As the tornado left Champaign at 2:08PM, a brief satellite tornado formed on the back of the storm and the curtain of rain thinned away, revealing a large, photogenic stovepipe tornado accompanied by its wriggling sub-vortex. However, the tornado did not remain photogenic for long. The sub-vortex began fizzling away, morphing into a deadly horizontal vortex that reached out like an arm from the loud-roaring wedge. The monstrous wedge plowed through the countryside for 27 minutes, demolishing almost every structure in the rural town of Potomac and sweeping away much of the debris from the foundation. The only structures left standing were the east wall of the Middlefork United Methodist Church, and a meat freezer from Casey's General Store where nearly 40 people took shelter. All other structures were either destroyed completely or had the interior bathroom walls partially standing. The tornado left 19 dead and 128 injured in Potomac. Shortly after impacting the rural town, the vortex churned across the state line into Indiana and slammed the unincorporated community of Tab. There, a stopped, half-loaded train was overturned and nearly every structure within the community was flattened. Every member of the community survived by hiding in a backroom of the Tab Christian Church, which remarkably was the only room left fully intact through the ordeal. At 2:59PM, the tornado passed approximately 10 miles north of downtown Lafayette and struck Brookston head-on. On the western side of town, houses were severely damaged with only few inner walls remaining. The well-constructed Frontier Elementary School sustained heavy damage, especially in the cafeteria as the roof and walls caved in which resulted in the entire roof being lofted away. On the east side of town, entire second stories were swept away with only the inner walls of the first story left. Throughout the town, trees were debarked and cars were discovered a half-mile from town. Well-constructed businesses also had demolished exterior walls and roofs. The tornado killed 1 and injured 4 as it passed over the town. Shortly after passing over Brookston, the half-mile wide tornado crossed the Tippecanoe River and dealt EF3 damage to a small unnamed neighborhood south of the Oakdale Dam; bulldozing mobile homes and leaving only the far innermost walls standing in most houses. It is here where a mother, a 7 year old child, and an infant were killed while attempting to flee the neighborhood by vehicle. Another 3 people were injured. If most of the residents of the tiny neighborhood had not fled before the tornado arrived despite advice not to, the death and injury tolls would both be much higher.